Boot Volume is not the Primary partition.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ethan
  • Start date Start date
E

Ethan

I had my 80GB HD partitioned into 2 volumes. The first 20 as my
"system" drive, and the last 60 as my "data" drive. Well I just put a
clean copy of XP back on the first 20 because I switched motherboard
and processor, a fantastic upgrade from a PIII 450 on an AOPEN AX6BC
to an Athlon XP 2500+ on an ASUS A7N8X.

In the process of laying XP back down, I booted from the XP CD,
deleted the 20 GB partition, and then told it to go to work.... it
formats in NTFS and copies files and installs XP....

The one thing I noticed was during the repartition / reformat, it was
referring to the new partition as "partition 3"... I'm sure it's not
a big deal, but I also noticed (since I was looking to see if this
affected anything) that in Administrative Tools - Computer Management
- Storage - Disk Management, My first 20 GB drive is designated as the
Boot Volume, but it's not the "Primary Partition" instead it's in
lighter blue as a "Logical Drive". I'm assuming before I trashed my
original system partation, it was the "primary partation".. I also
assume I should want my boot volume to be the primary partition...
Performance issues?. Is there any legit way to restore the boot
volume as primary without trashing the data in the other 60GB
partition? Should I care to? Also was there a method I should have
used to just format my system partition without having deleted the
partition itself? Obviously I can't be booted from the drive and say
"format c:" I think I had the option to install windows XP onto the
partition without deleting the partition, but I had no indication that
this would first reformat the partition.

Also my final 60GB drive, to the right of the "Healthy" designation,
where my boot drive says "(Boot)" the 60GB says "(system)".... what
does that mean?
 
I had my 80GB HD partitioned into 2 volumes. The first 20 as my
"system" drive, and the last 60 as my "data" drive. Well I just put
a clean copy of XP back on the first 20 because I switched
motherboard and processor, a fantastic upgrade from a PIII 450 on
an AOPEN AX6BC to an Athlon XP 2500+ on an ASUS A7N8X.
Click to expand...
In the process of laying XP back down, I booted
from the XP CD, deleted the 20 GB partition,
Click to expand...

You could have just told it to install on that 20GB
partition, told it that you didnt want to repair that
installation, and have been given a list of choices
on how to format it before the install, basically
quick and long format in FAT32 or NTFS format.
and then told it to go to work.... it formats
in NTFS and copies files and installs XP....
Click to expand...
The one thing I noticed was during the repartition / reformat,
it was referring to the new partition as "partition 3"... I'm sure
it's not a big deal, but I also noticed (since I was looking to see
if this affected anything) that in Administrative Tools - Computer
Management - Storage - Disk Management, My first 20 GB drive
is designated as the Boot Volume, but it's not the "Primary
Partition" instead it's in lighter blue as a "Logical Drive".
Click to expand...
I'm assuming before I trashed my original
system partation, it was the "primary partation"..
Click to expand...

Maybe. It may have been a logical drive in an extended partition too.
I also assume I should want my boot
volume to be the primary partition...
Click to expand...

Doesnt matter with XP, its happy to have either as the boot partition.
Performance issues?.
Nope.

Is there any legit way to restore the boot volume as primary
without trashing the data in the other 60GB partition?
Click to expand...

In theory partition magic should be able to do that.

In practice its very risky attempting it without a full backup.
Should I care to?
Click to expand...

Probably not. The main consideration is that you cant decide
to give XP the flick and return to Win9x very easily because
it needs to be installed on a primary dos partition.

While thats unlikely, I have seen some
gamers give up on XP and return to Win9x.
Also was there a method I should have used to just format
my system partition without having deleted the partition itself?
Yep.

Obviously I can't be booted from the drive and say "format c:"
I think I had the option to install windows XP onto the partition
without deleting the partition, but I had no indication that this
would first reformat the partition.
Click to expand...

You would have got that if you just told it to install on that
partition. It would have told you that XP was installed on
that already and you would have been given a choice of
repairing that installation or formatting it first.
Also my final 60GB drive, to the right of the "Healthy"
designation, where my boot drive says "(Boot)" the
60GB says "(system)".... what does that mean?
Click to expand...

Dunno, on none of my systems is any partition labelled (Boot),
they all have the boot partition as (System), but then they all
have a primary partition as the boot partition. Too lazy to
install one the other way to see what happens to that labelling.
 
Rod Speed said:
You could have just told it to install on that 20GB
partition, told it that you didnt want to repair that
installation, and have been given a list of choices
on how to format it before the install, basically
quick and long format in FAT32 or NTFS format.




Maybe. It may have been a logical drive in an extended partition too.


Doesnt matter with XP, its happy to have either as the boot partition.


In theory partition magic should be able to do that.

In practice its very risky attempting it without a full backup.


Probably not. The main consideration is that you cant decide
to give XP the flick and return to Win9x very easily
Click to expand...
because it needs to be installed on a primary dos partition.
Click to expand...

Clueless drivel. Win9x works fine on non primary dos partitions.
 
Probably not. The main consideration is that you cant decide
Clueless drivel. Win9x works fine on non primary dos partitions.
Click to expand...

YIKES! Harsh words...

I'll keep that in mind if I ever need win 98 again.
 
hupjack said:
YIKES! Harsh words...
Click to expand...

The only ones it understands.
I'll keep that in mind if I ever need win 98 again.
c:\msdos.sys

[Paths]
WinDir=D:\WIN98FE
WinBootDir=C:\WIN98FE
HostWinBootDrv=C
Click to expand...

Like I said, no problem at all.
Win9x has the provisions for running windows from another drive than C:\
Only the boot part (a minimal DOS: bootsector, IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS)
will be on C:
 
Folkert Rienstra said:
hupjack <hupjack_nospamtoday_yahoo.com> wrote
Click to expand...
The only ones it understands.
Click to expand...

Pathetic, really.
I'll keep that in mind if I ever need win 98 again.
Click to expand...
c:\msdos.sys
Click to expand...
[Paths]
WinDir=D:\WIN98FE
WinBootDir=C:\WIN98FE
HostWinBootDrv=C
Click to expand...

Like I said, no problem at all.
Click to expand...

Pity about my 'very easily' you pathetic excuse for a troll.
Win9x has the provisions for running windows from another
drive than C:\ Only the boot part (a minimal DOS: bootsector,
IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS) will be on C:
Click to expand...

Pity there wont be a C for that in his situation, you pathetic excuse for a troll.

Yes, its possible to do it, and most decent boot managers
can do it, but that doesnt qualify as anything like 'very easily'.

MUCH simpler to have XP installed on a primary partition for
someone like that to be able to return to Win9x very easily.
 
Back
Top